Miami Mayor discusses cost of living, investigations in State of the City address

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez delivered the 2024 State of the City address on Tuesday, giving a recap of 2023's happenings and sharing his vision for the city in 2024.

In the address, Suarez reflected on his last six years as mayor and his hopes for the future, highlighting accomplishments like a historically low unemployment rate of 1.6 percent and thanking the Miami Police Department when announcing the lowest levels of per capita homicides since the city started tracking homicides in 1947.

Miami recorded the safest year on record when it comes to the number of homicides recorded (31) in 2023.

Suarez made the announcement during his address, which was held at Camillus House, the largest homeless assistance agency in South Florida.

The mayor was keen on looking forward, telling residents the city “must meet the future right now.”

“Demand continues, costs are rising, and the crunch is real. Our affordability crisis, in part, is a supply crisis,” Suarez said. “We must use every tool to expand and to boost the supply of homes along with access to those homes.”

In 2023, the city saw the construction of 1,800 affordable housing units and recorded 26,000 new construction permits valued at more than $4 billion, according to Mayor Suarez. He says the permitting process will be streamlined to make it even easier in 2024.

The mayor said Miami’s unemployment rate stands at 1.6% which is well below the national average of 3.7%.

But NBC 6 Political Analyst Mike Hernandez says the mayor’s address also highlighted “missed opportunities.”

“I think he conveyed a message of sincerity that he sincerely hopes to accomplish certain goals. I just think he needed to be a lot more forceful about the need for transparency and reform in the city’s government,” said Hernandez.

The address comes just weeks after Suarez sat down with NBC6's Jackie Nespral to discuss what he learned from his short-lived Presidential run, noting that he felt he had the right personality for the job, but not enough volume at the time.

Mayor Suarez faced investigations into his dealings with foreign government, a local developer, and an ethics investigation about his attendance at highly-priced sporting events.

He addressed some of those investigations at the State of the City address.

“I think a lot of these things are targeted for them to create their sort of campaign and I don’t think it’s going to stop,” he said. “I think we’ll have some news in the coming days about some of them but look, they have the right to do whatever they want. My issue is, you cannot come to incorrect conclusions from the facts and that’s what they’ve been doing.”

On top of that, the City’s commission is embroiled in controversies and drama of its own.

“I don’t think it’s about turning down noise. It’s more about someone needs to lead,” Hernandez said.

On Tuesday, the mayor suggested increasing the number of commissioners to represent Miami’s rapidly increasing population along with expanding the administrative powers of the mayor.

“I actually proposed that several years ago. I wanted to be a full-time mayor, the voters said no. So, I went out to the private sector to provide for my family,” Suarez said.

Suarez added he would be in favor of bringing in an independent auditor to provide conflict checks for city officials.